If one were to compare what the boy gained and what he lost from the incident during the resurrection of the evil god, and if one were merely to speak numerically, then unfortunately, the boy won out.
The things he lost included that something that he has been protecting for thirteen years, and the friends who saved him from the perils of a foreign world – which unfortunately also happened to include his first love.
Regardless, he lost just those two things.
In exchange, he gained many things.
The three thousand years’ worth of information about Falandia while the evil god was sealed.
The experience of the many battles that occurred in the shadows for the evil god’s revival.
The knowledge that only gods are privy to.
The limits of his stats that were raised when the evil god possessed (overwrote) him for a moment.
And…
Though he remained in the body of a human — the authority of a god.
Of course, he would never think of such things as anything but a curse.
Regardless what those things could accomplish.
To him they were nothing more than a curse.
*Drip.
*Drip.
Dripped that red thing to the floor.
When everyone there saw that scene, they were all shocked.
But the one most shocked was none other than Daigo himself.
His arms were petrified, and for some inexplicable reason, a person that shouldn’t be there was right in front of him.
“—This is the next most unexpected thing after that 8 years thing.”
Daigo found himself blinking in response to the unexpected fed-up voice that seemed to reproach him.
That red thing that continued to drip did not belong to him.
How did things turn out like this? Why was this person in front of him? No one could answer it.
And yet somehow, that boy was able to arrive there in a flash and stop that knife before it could reach him.
“Huh… Wa!? Are you okay!?” Daigo cried.
“W-What are you doing!?” The girl cried.
“Onii-chan!?” The child cried.
Seeing the three hostages shocked, the boy wryly smiled.
Daigo’s hands released the knife in a panic, but Shinichi continued to hold onto it.
Blood continued to drip onto the ground since he was holding tightly onto it, but Shinichi himself was calm.
“Don’t worry, a scratch like this can’t hurt me. I’m already used to it.”
“Used to? You?”
Shinichi smiled gently, but Daigo’s emotions were complicated.
What manner of experience would it take to turn a child who would cry upon a simple fall into someone so composed a bleeding wound could not faze him?
When Daigo thought of the implication behind Shinichi’s words, he couldn’t find it in himself to smile.
“Forgive me, Daigo… For testing you,” Shinichi said.
“Testing me? Huh?” Daigo asked.
“But I’m glad,” Shinichi said. “That you haven’t changed at all.”
Shinichi didn’t answer him and just said that.
There was no deeper meaning to it. He just wanted to know what Daigo would choose.
Although it was true that Shinichi panicked when Daigo pointed the knife at himself, but it was also true that he smiled.
That’s why Shinichi could finally say those words that he wanted to say when they first reunited.
“You’re the same as ever…. Using that body of yours for someone else.
You’re the coolest, Daigo, my best friend, and I’m proud of you. Still, I think it’s too hasty to try and stab yourself.”
“S-Shut up! I was at my breaking point!!”
As Shinichi smiled in satisfaction and said a few words too much as usual, Daigo too returned to his usual behavior.
But there seemed to be some pain hidden behind Shinichi’s smile which left Daigo uneasy.
And then a panicking voice resounded.
“Y-You! J-Just what did you do!? How did you!?”
The suited man who was the calmest of them all until just a while ago was now panicking.
What did Shinichi do? He couldn’t see it at all.
Moreover, the man who had a gun pointed at him was already on the ground with his eyes turned over.
Mitsuda, who was close to the hostages, was also squatting on the ground holding his stomach.
Although no one knew what happened, there was no need to ask who did it.
“What a noisy guy…” Shinichi muttered unhappily as he changed his grip on the knife.
Unfortunately, only his childhood friend could actually understand just how angry he was.
Shinichi juggled the knife with one hand and held it in between his fingers.
“Shinichi?” Daigo asked.
“…Sorry, Daigo.
Unlike you, I changed,” Shinichi said.
Shinichi wryly smiled at Daigo, then he shot the knife with a snap of his wrist.
The knife shot like a bullet and penetrated the man at his side.
“Oneechan?” The child asked.
The girl who saw that unfold took advantage of how the child couldn’t see what was going on and covered his ears.
This was not something that should be seen or heard by a child.
“Huh… GyaAAAaa!!??
HIYa, you stabbed me! You stabbed me with a knife! GyaAAa!!” The man cried.
“…So needlessly noisy.
I didn’t hit any vital points, and yet he keeps going ‘gyaa gyaa’,” Shinichi mocked.
For a moment, the suited man didn’t know what was going on, but when he realized what was happening, he started screaming frantically.
It was less the pain and more the fear of being stabbed that drove him into panic.
But Shinichi only looked at him coldly as if it didn’t concern him.
Daigo blinked several times at that and rubbed his eyes.
‘Who is that?’ He found himself wanting to say, but he swallowed those words before he could say them.
Regardless, that just showed how unbelievable this whole thing was to him.
“Hey, get into position! The hostages don’t matter anymore! Just kill them all!”
Daigo had no choice but to shelve his confusion for now, for someone gave that order while Mitsuda and the others calmed down the panicking man.
Shinichi went in front before anyone else, but something suddenly left him shocked.
Daigo and the girl behind him were also confused.
Even the men who gave that order were frozen.
“T-That’s right… I just wanted to do something for my dad…” Said a criminal.
“I just kept hating and I never did anything myself…” Said another criminal.
“I just loved to run, but before I knew it all that was on my mind was winning…” And another criminal.
“The one who was neglectful was me. Why didn’t I look for a new path at that time?” And another.
Before anyone knew it, the situation had become like this.
No one was listening to the order; everyone was breaking down crying.
No one was holding a gun anymore. They were all harshly rebuking themselves, saying, ‘what was I doing?’
The hostages were even more shocked at the sudden reform these criminals had undergone.
That’s why no one realized it when Shinichi’s face suddenly paled and he covered his mouth.
“Y-You’re kidding… The Divine Words… leaked?”